In view of the high prices of gasoline, and the environmental problems associated with its wide use, it is desirable to develop an energy carrier that would replace, at least partially, the use of gasoline and reduce CO2 emission.
One such alternative energy carrier is methanol. A hypothetical future economy based on the idea of using methanol instead of fossil fuels as a means of transportation of energy is sometimes termed “the methanol economy”. The article Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy authored by George A. Olah and published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 44, Issue 18, Pages 2636-2639, 2005, advocates the methanol economy and discusses the generation of methanol from carbon dioxide or methane.